


Best

by afirewasinmyhead



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-25 07:03:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2612639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afirewasinmyhead/pseuds/afirewasinmyhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little fill-in-the-blanks thing for the night Nagisa slept over at Haru's house in ES episode five.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best

_What’s that noise?_

It was just past sunset, and an irregular metallic clanging coming from outside had summoned Haru from his kitchen into the crisp evening air. Still wearing his apron, he followed the noise up some stone steps that eventually led to the shrine. As he climbed, he began to hear a familiar voice amidst the sounds.

Haru rounded the corner at the top of the steps and turned to find a boy pitching a tent in the small grassy clearing behind his house. The towhead visitor was crouched with his back towards him, hammering in the last of the stakes. Haru watched as he fumbled with the hammer and with one final clang, bent the pole.

“Aw, it bent again! Oh well.”

The boy straightened himself and went about setting up a campfire. He rummaged through a duffle bag, triumphantly fished out a lighter, and whirled around. “Shazam!” he exclaimed, as the lighter sparked to life.

“Nagisa.”

Startled by the sound of his name, Nagisa nearly the dropped the lighter in his hands. He whipped his head around, seeing Haru for the first time. “H-Haru-chan?!”

“What are you doing?” Haru asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

“Uh…” Nagisa stammered, almost guiltily, “I-I came to watch the Leonids!” He swallowed.

“That’s fine,” Haru assured him, “but don’t start a fire up here.”

“Oh yeah, y-you’re right,” Nagisa agreed, smiling sheepishly. “Um… Haru-chan? Why are you holding a ladle?”

Haru looked down at the ladle forgotten in his hand, some cooled soup still sloshing around the bowl. “I was making dinner.”

Nagisa seemed to consider this. “Hey!” he chirped, “Since I haven’t seen any meteors yet, maybe I could come help you cook while I wait!”

 

***

 

“Mmmm, it smells good in here, Haru-chan,” Nagisa observed as he entered Haru’s kitchen. The room was small but expertly arranged and Haru always kept it perfectly neat. A window above the sink afforded them a view of the darkening sky over the ocean. “What can I do?”

Haru resumed his post at the stove and gestured towards a bunch of green onions on the counter. “Rinse those, and chop the green parts up small.”

Nagisa hummed as he ran the green stalks under cool water and began slicing them into tiny green rings. He put the green pieces into a bowl and was about to throw away the bulbous white ends when…

“Ne ne, Haru-chan! Who do I look like?”

Haru turned to see Nagisa with one white end of green onion up each nostril, the spindly roots poking out of his nose resembling long white nose hairs. The corners of Haru’s mouth twitched as a tiny snort escaped his throat. “Koizumi-sensei,” he said, remembering their unkempt middle school principal.

“Yes!” Nagisa squealed as he bounced on the balls of his feet. He quickly schooled his features and cleared his throat, clasping his hands behind his back. _“Nanase-kun,”_ he said in a gravelly voice, taking one long stride in Haru’s direction, _“Hasn’t anyone ever told you it is impolite to stare?”_ He took one more step to close the gap between the two of them and brought his face just close enough to Haru’s to brush his cheek with the root-hairs.

Haru exhaled haltingly in silent laughter and elbowed Nagisa lightly in the stomach. “Aren’t those irritating your nose?”

“No, not rea-” Nagisa protested, before being overcome by a huge sneeze. He caught the onion ends just as they fell from his nostrils. When he recovered, he looked up to see Haru offering him a tissue. “Thanks, Haru-chan,” he said with a grateful smile.

To those who didn’t know him Haru might have seemed cold or unfeeling, but Nagisa knew better. He never pushed Haru to do something he didn’t want to do, but he enjoyed coaxing half-smiles and almost-laughs out of his usually reserved friend. He liked that Haru let him. It was a challenge - a game - and Haru played along. Behind eyes as deep and blue as the ocean, Haru was ever on the verge of smiling. _Haru is always smiling on the inside,_ Nagisa mused. _All he needs is a little cajoling!_

“So,” Haru began, serious again, adding the green onion to the simmering pot, “if you were planning on watching the Leonids from here, why didn’t you just ask to spend the night at my place?”

“Oh. W-well, I…” Nagisa faltered. He quickly busied himself with washing the cutlery in the sink, grateful for an excuse not to have those bottomless blue eyes boring into his own. “I just…” He took a steadying breath. “I didn’t want to bother you.” He peeked through his shaggy bangs to see Haru pursing his lips slightly, a wrinkle in his brow. _You’re my friend. Of course you wouldn’t be bothering me._ Haru didn’t have to voice his thoughts; they were plain on his face.

“A-anyway,” Nagisa continued, “I just needed a little bit of time away, t-to clear my head.”

This time Haru spoke. “What’s bothering you?”

Nagisa furiously scrubbed a spoon. “Uh… school has just been… a little overwhelming, and prelims are coming up so I’ve been worrying about my time, and-”

“But your time has been improving,” Haru interrupted.

“I-I know,” Nagisa said, panic punctuating his words, “but I still worry it won’t be good enough for-” Nagisa grasped desperately for something else to clean, and dropped it just as quickly. “A-ah!” He held up his left hand to see a single drop of blood pooling in the crease of his palm where he’d picked up the knife blade-first. “Oh no,” he breathed, unable to tear his eyes away. Inky blackness seeped into his periphery and the shuffling of Haru’s feet sounded like it was coming from further and further away. Just before his knees buckled under him, a pair of steady hands grasped his shoulders and led him roughly to the floor. He sat down hard, but at least the blackness at the edges of his vision had dissipated.

“Nagisa, look at me.”

Blinking quickly, Nagisa found Haru’s face and focused on it as his friend took his shaking left hand in both of his and examined it. Nagisa trained his eyes on the smooth plane of Haru’s jaw, the gentle curve of his nose, and the shock of black hair obscuring his eyes. Everything about Haru exuded serenity. Nagisa took another steadying breath and wondered absently if it was possible that his friend had absorbed some of the calmness from the water where he spent most of his time.

“Well,” Haru said, breaking the spell of tranquility, “it looks like you’ll need a few stitches.”

“EHH?!” Nagisa wailed, ripping his hand away.

Haru smirked and rolled his eyes. “I’m _kidding._ Ne, given how many horror films you watch, I’m surprised you’d faint at the sight of a little blood.”

“I-I didn’t faint!” Nagisa protested as Haru retrieved his hand, cleaned his palm with a damp cloth and applied a Band-Aid over his cut.

“Almost,” Haru said cooly, matter-of-factly, not seeking to provoke his friend any more. He rose to his feet and offered Nagisa a hand.

Nagisa took Haru’s hand in his own unbandaged one and stood. “I-I’m sorry, Haru-chan.” Haru looked down at him quizzically.

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

Nagisa felt tears collect on his bottom lashes and averted his eyes, shifting uneasily. Interpreting this as dizziness, Haru reflexively held out his arms to catch his friend. Nagisa’s face brightened at the gesture and, before Haru could step away, he trapped him in a tight hug, snaking his arms around his friend’s waist. “You’re the best, Haru-chan,” Nagisa murmured into the taller boy’s shoulder.

Haru was about to protest, but swallowed his words and patted Nagisa awkwardly on the head, mussing his golden curls. “Let’s eat,” he said simply.

 

***

 

Nagisa seemed to have forgotten about watching the Leonids, and Haru didn’t ask him about it again. It was obvious something else was bothering his friend, something he didn’t want to - or was afraid to - mention, but Haru decided to wait for him to explain it when he felt comfortable.

“Hmmm, what do you want to watch, Haru-chan?” Nagisa called as he trailed his index finger along the neat row of DVDs on Haru’s shelf.

Haru hung up the dish cloth and padded into his room. “Something gory. Lots of blood,” he said flatly as he perched at the head of his bed, ignoring Nagisa’s sticking his tongue out at him. “Or an ocean documentary.”

Nagisa tapped his index finger on his chin as he examined the rest of the titles before announcing “Ahh, perfect!”, taking one down, popping open the case and setting the movie to play on Haru’s laptop. He scampered over to the opposite side of Haru’s bed and flopped down on his belly, propping himself up on his elbows and resting his chin on his hands.

Haru rolled his eyes as he heard the familiar _dun-dun_ of the _Jaws_ theme play during the opening credits. “ _This_ is a compromise?”

“Look at all the water! Ne, I’m sure you can spot some mackerel in the movie if you look close enough. You love mackerel, right, Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked, twisting himself around to smile at the other boy in the dim light of the laptop screen.

Haru nodded, pacified, sat back against his headboard and crossed his arms and legs as the movie began. He spent the next two hours half-watching the film, half-listening to Nagisa’s commentary and periodically grunting in affirmation.

“That line was actually improvised!”

“She couldn’t fake a slap so she actually hit him in every take; wouldn’t that hurt?”

“It took 75 takes to get this one shot right!”

“Would Mako-chan watch this movie if we told him the boat was called the Orca?”

Haru studied Nagisa pensively. _How is he struggling at school if he can retain so much information?_

As the ending credits started to roll, Nagisa yawned hugely and laid his head down on his folded arms. “Haru-chan…?” he asked shyly, wriggling a little.

Haru blinked in the almost-dark, not sure what Nagisa was asking for, then smiled slightly and shook his head once. He crawled on his hands and knees until he was next to his friend and sat down cross-legged. He reached out and with a featherlight touch began “drawing” on Nagisa’s back with his index finger. Two long sweeping strokes, one small curve, and a dot. Then he drew a question mark. It was Nagisa’s turn.

“Mmm. A fish?” Nagisa said tentatively.

Haru drew another question mark, slowly, meaningfully.

“A _mackerel_ ,” Nagisa giggled.

Haru drew a check-mark. He began a new image: one large round shape, two small circles at the bottom, an oval on either side, two dots in the middle and a tiny triangle. He savoured the feeling of warm fabric under his fingertips and the muted sound of Nagisa’s even breathing.

_?_

Nagisa answered immediately. “A penguin!”

Haru drew another check-mark and Nagisa hummed happily. Next image: a huge rectangle, spanning shoulder blade to hip, filled with innumerable tiny squiggles.

_?_

“A… pool…” Nagisa murmured, almost inaudibly.

Haru drew his answering check-mark. He paused. He raised his hand once more and drew one large shape on Nagisa’s back, up, around, curving down, a point, back up, curving in, and ending where he began.

_?_

He waited. 

He was about to ask if Nagisa wanted him to repeat the image when a sleepy grunt made him jump. After making sure that Nagisa was still asleep, Haru eased himself carefully off the bed, slipped the DVD into its case and onto his shelf, and turned off his laptop. He fetched a blanket from the linen closet, draped it over his friend and tucked it around him. He looked around cautiously, then chided himself. _Of course no one is here._ Slowly, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss onto golden curls. Nagisa stirred slightly but stayed asleep.

Haru tip-toed out of his room and pulled his door almost closed. After looking around uselessly (again) he whispered into the dark.

_“You’re the best, Nagisa.”_

And with that, he shut the door.

**Author's Note:**

> [Bianka](http://janeypeixes.tumblr.com) said she wanted a fic of the Haru & Nagisa sleepover alluded to at the beginning of S2E5 and I was like "YEAH" so I wrote one. Also a fill for this kinkmeme [prompt](http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/2701.html?thread=3138189#cmt3138189), so it's posted there as well.
> 
> This is my first contribution to the Free! fandom (any fandom, actually!) so I apologize for any awkwardness or OOC-ness. I hope you like it; I enjoyed writing it. :) There is absolutely not enough Free! genfic out there and Haru and Nagisa are precious.


End file.
